Tracer fuse



Dec. 9, 3924- 1,518,247

v H. M. BRAYTON TRACER FUSE Filed July 25, 1924 INVENTOR.

Harald Mfiraytun wzfl ATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

ETED 'STTES OFFICE.

TRACER FUSE.

Application filed July 25, 1924. Serial No. 728,281.

(FILED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883, 22 STATE. 13., 625.)

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAROLD M. BRAYTON, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Dover, county of Morris, and State of New Jersey, haveinvented an Improvement in Tracer Fuses, of which the following is a.specification.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any ofits oflicers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, orby any other person in the United States, without payment to me of anyroyalty thereon, in accordance with the act of March 3, 1883.

f The subject of this invention is a tracer use.

When firing projectiles against aircraft, it is necessary to provide arelatively large number with a tracer composition to enable the gunnerto observe the trajectory of the shell for the purpose of effecting therequired adjustments of the sighting mechanism of the gun to the rapidlymoving taret.

b Since this class of firing is generally conducted over friendlyterritory it is. desirable that mechanism be provided to insure thedestruction of the shell before its return to earth in the event offailure to hit the target.

It has been attempted to utilize the flame from the tracer compositionfor igniting the explosive charge in the shell but this practice, as atpresent employed, is extremely dangerous in that the high pressure inthe powder chamber frequently forces the hot gases through or around thetracer composition to ignite the explosive charge before the shell hasleft the bore of the gun.

The impracticability of loading the tracer composition so as toeliminate premature functioning is compensated for in the pres- .entinvention in which there is provided a laterally sliding member carryingan element 4 of an interrupted powder train which is prevented from beinmade continuous until the sliding member 1s free to move under theaction of centrifugal force after the shell has attained a predeterminedrotational velocity in flight. Means are also provided to insure properaxial alignment of the movable element of the interrupted powder train.

To these and other ends, my invention consists in the construction,arrangement and a combination of elements, described hereinafter andpointed out in the claims forming a part of this specification.

A practical embodiment of my invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tracer fuse,

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken at right angles to Figure1; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 33 of F ig. 1.

Referring to the drawings by numerals of reference:

A body 10 adapted for threaded insertion in the base end of a shell isformed with a cavity 11, having converging forward walls 12 to form asmaller cavity 13, which is in communication with a flash duct 14.

A tracer composition 15 loaded in the cavity 11 holds a cup 16 carryinga detonating charge 17 in place in the cavity 13.

The body 10 is formed with a transverse passage 18, open at one end, inwhich is mounted a bolt 19 having an enlarged head 20 for engaging ashoulder 21 in the passage. The bolt is held in innermost or unarmedposition against the shoulder 21 by a spring 22 seated in a recess ofthe head 20 and confined by a cup-shaped member 23'securely held in theopening in the passage.

The bolt carries one element- 24 of a powder train, the other element 25being stationarily disposed axially of the fuse and held in place by adisc 26. When the bolt is in unarmed position, as shown in Figure 1, thecontinuity of the elements in the powder train isinterrupted and willremain interrupted until the shell attains a predetermined rotationalvelocity during flight at which time the bolt under the action ofcentrifugal force moves laterally to overcome the tension of the spring22 and to position the the fuse.

To insure proper aligmnent of the movablej powder element 24 with thestationary powder element 25 and the flash duct 14, the bolt is formedwith a squared side 27 ex tending throughout a portion of its lengthpowder element 24, axially of and adapted during lateral movement of thebolt to be contacted by the squared end of a pin 28 to prevent rotationof the bolt. The pin 28 may be stationarily secured in the body in anyconvenient manner.

When a projectile equipped with this fuse is discharged from a gun, theflame from the propellent charge ignites the tracer composition whichfunctions in a well-known manner to describe a visible-trajectory inflight. The projectile is ordinarily equipped with a percussion fusewhich serves to ignite the explosive charge on impact with a target.However, in the event of failure to hit the target the destruction ofthe' shell is accomplished through the tracer composition which whenentirely consumed detonates the detonator, which in turn ignites thepowder train to relay the flame to the explosive charge. As stated inthe premises the bolt has been moved laterally duringflight through theaction of centrifugal force to properly align the movable element of thepowder train.

While in the foregoing there has been illustrated and described suchcombination and arrangement of elements as constitute the preferredembodiment of my invention, it is nevertheless desired to emphasize thefact that interpretation of the invention should only be conclusive whenmade in the light of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A fuse including a body, said body formed with a cavity, a tracercomposition disposed in the cavity, a detonator adjacent the forward endof the tracer composition, a centrifugally movable bolt mountedtransversely. in the body, said bolt formed with a squared side, anelement of a powder train carried by the bolt, an element of a powdertrain carried by the body, the continuity of said elements beingnormally interrupted, and a pin carried by the body and engaging thesquared side of the bolt to prevent rotation of the bolt during lateralmovement thereof. 1

2. A fuse including a body, said body formed with a cavity, a tracercomposition disposed in the cavity, a detonator adjacent the forward endof the tracer composition, a centrifugally movable bolt mountedtransversely in the body, an element of a powder train carried by saidbolt, an element of a.

powder train stationarily carried by the body, the continuity of saidelements being normally interrupted.

3. A fuse including a body, saidbody formed with a cavity, a tracercomposition disposed in the cavity, a centrifugally movable bolt mountedtransversely in the body, an element of a powder train carried by saidbolt, an element of a powder train carried by the body, the continuityof said elements being normally interrupted.

4. A fuse including a body, a tracer composition carried in one end ofthe body, a powder charge carried in the other end of the body, acentrifugally movable bolt mounted transversely in the body between thetracer composition and the powder charge, and a powder charge carried bythe bolt and adapted to be aligned with the tracer composition and thefirst mentioned powder charge when the bolt is moved to armed position.

5. A fuse including a body, a tracer composition carried in one end ofthe body, a powder charge carried in the other end of the body, a membermovable during flight mounted in the body, and a powder charge normallycarried by said member in unarmed position and movable therewith toarmed position.

6. A fuse including a body, a combustible charge carried in both ends ofsaid body, and a safety member including a combustible charge interposedbetween the combustible charges and adapted to be moved during flight toalign the charges.

7 A fuse including a body, a tracer composition carried by the body, aninterrupted powdercharge in the body adapted to be moved touninterrupted position during flight.

8. Means for causing destruction of a shell in flight, including a fusebody, a tracer composition carried by the body and adapted to be ignitedby the flame of a propelling charge, and a powder charge for relayingignition to the forward end of the fuse,'said powder charge beingnormally interrupted and adapted to be aligned during 9. A safety devicefor fuses embodyinga centrifugally movable bolt, said bolt formed with asquared side and means engaging the squared side of the bolt forpreventing rotation of the bolt during its movement.

HAROLD M. BRAYTON.

